Sole-fitting machine.



M. E. JOHNSON. SOLE FITTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 17, 1 916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

1,237,528., Patented Aug. 21,1917. I

M. E. JOHNSON.

SOLE HTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11. I916.

1 37,523 Patented Aug. 21, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

MERTON E. JOHNSON, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PA'IERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MERTON E. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sole-Fitting Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will'enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.-

This invention relates to sole fitting machines and more particularly to improvements in the means for adjusting the tools ofsuch machines for variations in the thickness of the soles to be operated upon.

While the invention may be. advantageously employed in various types of solo fitting machines for purposes of explanation it will be illustrated as applied to the machine for channeling Economy insoles disclosed in United States Letters Patent to lVilliam C. Meyer No. 984,773, granted February 21, 1911.

In the machine of said patent the feed plate is carried by a vertically movable feed bar which is urged yieldingly toward the by a coiled spring, the whole being supported in a guideway in the machine frame. The height of the feed plate above the work support is determined by an adjustment of upper lock nuts on the feed bar whichop'erate to raise or lower the bar within the frame- The position of the'lip forming knives above the work support is determined in a similar manner. The construction of the machine issuch that in either case an adjustment for height varies the tension on the spring referred to. Thus as the soles increase in thickness the spring tension increases and the pressure on the sole of both the feed plate and knife carrier increases. As those skilled in the art are aware, in channeling soles with a drag knife which is held yieldingly in working position, care must be taken in making the initial settingup adjustment of the spring so that the channel and lip will be formed, with certainty, of the desired depth, that is, the knife will not be caused to dig in too far be- Application filed April 17, 1916.

sonn-rrrrrne MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent; Patented Aug. 21, 1917.

Serial No. 91,674.

cause of too great pressure, or not cut deep enough because of too little pressure. 011 the same principlethe setting up adjustment of the spring whlch holds down the feed plate must be carefully made in order to secure a positive and even feed of the sole past the knife. It is possible, in the machine of said Meyer patent to bring the springs referred to back to their original test their effect on the work, when adjusting the knives and feed plate for a variation in sole thickness with consequent poor results on the work turned out of the ma- I chine. Furthermore an adjustment of the upper lock nuts alone for a heavy sole places the spring under so great a tension that the wear on the connections of the movlng parts is unduly great, with the result that the banging to which the feed bar andother parts are subjected under such conditions often causes crystallization and ultimate breakage.

The object of the presentinvention is to overcomethe disadvantages just pointed out and providefor a retention of the initial setting-up tension on the springs which yieldingly urge the tools engaging thev sole toward the work support, whatever thickness of sole is being operated upon. In accordance with this object provision is made for an adjustment of the carrier in which the particular tool to be adjusted is supported, without altering the original tension placed .on the spring by the setting-up adjustment. The features of the invention by which this object, is accomplished will be hereinafter explained and then particularly pointed out in the appended'claims.

The preferred form of the invention, as applied to an insole channeling machine of the Economy type is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of such a machine, this being theside at which the operative stands,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 22.of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 1 is a horizontal section through the knife carrier on the line H of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail of the knife carrier adjustment showing the relation of the parts when a sole is being operated upon, and

Fig. 6 is a perspective, detached, of the knife carrier adjusting thimble.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the work support 1. and its operating mechanism including the cam 2; the channel knife 3 and edge knife 1 with their blocks; the feed plate 5 with its feed bar and swinging frame; the channel flap hammer 6 and itsoperating mechanism including the cam 7 the edge gage 8 and its adjusting mechanism; the driving shaft 9 with its driving pulley all may be, and preferably are, in all respects like the same parts in the machine of said patent to l/Villiam C. Meyer. J

In addition to the features of invention herein claimed the machine of said Meyer patent: is further altered by the substitution forthe path camfor oscillating the feed bar frame",.of a surface cam 10 (Fig. 1) which operates ina yoke 11 in a well known manner. The yoke 11 is connected, in a manner presently to be described, to an arm 12 (Fig. 1)- projecting horizontally from a sleeve 13 pinned to the usual rock shaft 14. The usual bifurcated arm15 (Fig. 2) transmits motion fromthe rockshaft to the feed bar 16 mounted in the swinging frame 17. provided at its lower end with a feed-plate carrier116 slidable with the bar in the frame 17', and: the usual spring 18 (Fig. 3) surrounds the feed bar above the feed plate. The spring 18 bears with its lower end against. the carrier 116 and with its upper end-against a sleeve'117 in the frame 17, slidable on the feed bar. The relative position of the sleeve 117 to the feed plate carrier 5 is fixed by an adjustment of the lock nuts 19 threaded on the sleeve. Allof these parts are the same as in said Meyer patent. The connection between the cam yoke 11 and arm 12 which forms one feature of the present invention is best shown in Fig. 2. Threaded into the arm 12 is the shank of a screw threaded stud20 provided with a securing nut and having an eccentric portion 21 seated in a bore in the upper end of the yoke 11. A. leaf spring 22 (Fig. 1) takes up wear by maintaining the yoke 11 pressed against thecam'drum at its rear side. l/Vith this construction when it is desired to raise or lower the feed plate for a proper operation on thickeror thinner soles a rotation of the eccentric2l, in the proper direction, will raise or lower all the parts within the feed plate carrying frame 17, including the feed bar 16, feed plate carrier 116, thimble 117 and spring 18, without any change in the relation of these parts to each other. Thus This bar is the original setting-up adjustment of the spring 18 is maintained under all adjustments of the feed plate for height.

The problem, as applied to an adjustment of the knife carrier 23 is solved in a similar manner. The mounting of the knife carrier spring 24, on the rod 25 carried on a lug lug 27 is, however, enlarged to receive a thimble 30 (Fig. 6), through which the rod 25 passes, and on the head 31' of which the I lock nuts 29 rest. This thimble has a lug 32 which depends adjacent the machine frame and the thimble is secured to said frame by means of a set screw533 threaded into the frame through a Vertical slot in said lug. As. the upper end ofthe spring 2% bears against the lower end of the thimble 30 (see Fig. 5) .it will be obvious: that on loosening the screw 33 and raising or lowermg the thimble relative to the machine 1 frame, the knife carrier 28 and all the parts sustained thereby will be moved relative to the work support without any change in their relation on the carrier- Fig. 5, showing the lock nuts 29 raised above the thimble 30, illustrates the relation of the parts on the carrier 23 when the work support is in its raised position and a sole is being operated upon. As in the old machine the spring 21 is then compressed somewhat because the height to which the knife carrier is set above the work support is always less than the thickness of the sole. The upper lock nuts 34, on the feed bar, would be in a similar relation to the block 35. just beneath them during the feed-stroke of the feed plate 5..

Theoperation of the illustrated machine is I the same as described in said Meyer patent, indeed it will be obvious that the addition of an adjusting device of the character'describedwill in no way affect the us11aloperation of any sole fitting machine to which it may be applied.

The nature and scope of the present infor setting the spring to a predetermined 30 tension, and means for moving the carrier toward and from the Work support to vary the distance of the tool therefrom, while maintaining automatically the predetermined setting of the spring.

2. A sole fitting machine, having, in combination, a work support, a tool for operating on a sole supported thereby, a carrier for said tool movable to carry the tool in a direction substantially normal to the sole supporting surface of the said support, a spring sustained on the carrier for yieldingly urging the tool toward said support, means for setting the spring to a predetermined tension, and means for raising and lowering the carrier and spring relative to the work support, while maintaining the original relation of the spring and its setting means undisturbed.

3. A sole fitting machine, having, in combination, a work support, a lip forming knife, a knife carrier movable toward and from said support, a spring for yieldingly urging said carrier toward said support, meansfor setting the spring to a predetermined tension, and a member adjustably secured to the machine frame and interposed between said spring and its setting means, whereby the carrier may be moved without disturbing the setting of the spring.

l. A sole fitting machine,'having, in combination, a Work support, a lip forming knife, a knife carrier movable toward and from said support, an adjustable thimble mounted on the machine frame, a rod on the knife carrier passing through said thimble, adjusting nuts on each end of the rod above and below said thimble, and a spring for yieldingly urging said carrier tovvard the work support interposed between said thimble and one set of adjusting nuts.

'5. A sole fitting machine, having, in combination, a work support, a sole feeding clevice, a carrier therefor, a spring sustained by the carrier for yieldingly urging said device toward said support, means for setting the spring to a predetermined tension, actuating means for the carrier, operative connections between said actuating means and carrier for imparting motion thereto, and an adjustable device in said connections for moving the carrier and feeding device toward and from the work support While maintaining the predetermined setting of the spring.

6. A sole fitting machine, having, in combination, a work support, a sole feeding device, a carrier therefor, a spring sustained by the carrier for yieldingly urging said device toward said support, means for setting the spring to a predetermined tension, a cam, a cam yoke, lever arm mechanism between said yoke and carrier for imparting motion thereto, and an eccentric stud forming the connection between said yoke and lever arm mechanism, whereby the carrier may be moved toward and from the work support without disturbing the setting of the spring.

7 A sole fitting machine, having, in combination, a table for supporting a'fiat sole blank, a tool carrier mounted above the table and movable toward and from said table, a tool sustained in said carrier for engaging the sole, a spring interposed between said carrier and a part having a definite relation to the carrier, and a single means for adjusting said carrier and spring bodily relatively to the table.

8. A sole fitting machine, having, in combination, a table for supporting a fiat sole blank, a tool carrier mounted above the table and movable toward and from said table, a tool sustained in said carrier for engaging the sole, a spring interposed between said carrier and a part having a definite relation to the carrier, a single means for adjusting said carrier and spring bodily relatively to the table, and separate means for adjusting the tension of the spring.

- MERTON E. JOHNSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. O." 

